With just a little over three weeks to go for Friendship Day – 5th August, I cannot help but remember the tumultuous year which whizzed past, like the snap of a finger. I distinctly remember that evening of 23rd June 2017, when I first set foot in IIM Shillong. The grey clouds hovering above seemed to perhaps echo the multitude of emotions searing through me – anxiety, nervousness, a bit of self-conscious and amongst all these things, doubt started to creep in as to whether I was even cut out for the task of surviving the rigour of MBA, especially from one of the premier B-schools in the country, for I had always been with my family and never spent a week away from my loved ones (I was a day scholar during my graduation and have no formal work experience), let alone committing to operate independently for 2 years!
My doubts were unfounded, as I had just started living the best two years of my life. As time flew by and I lost track of what date it was, in the little time I had between the plethora of assignments and classes, I found myself interacting with my colleagues and soon to be my new family of 180+. I was exposed to some vivid personalities with each person being different from the other. From someone who had always been enclosed in a shell till now, this was perhaps a butterfly moment for me.
From running cooking contests at 3 in the night, to drawing of daggers between Real and Barca fans a week before El Classico even took place, to remedials for the uninitiated and disinterested folk, the quintessential session note-makers, the notorious Faf-masters, musicians who invited the wrath of the college by doing JAM sessions at 6 in the morning, the gym freaks, I have seen it all, been in all. And that’s the best thing about life @IIMS, you meet people from all walks of life, having distinct interests, clashing personalities, and you get to learn from each one of them, you get to be a part of this wonderful group who are as weird as it can be. I came across this beautiful quote and I can’t agree more: -
“If you have friends as weird as you, then you have everything”
One year into my MBA, over a 1000 mile away from home, I am amongst a family I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.
Aditya Birla Group
I’d like to work for Idea Cellular Limited as I am personally excited by the happenings in the telecom industry and curious as to the steps an incumbent like Idea Cellular takes, and what goes behind the decision-making process to ward off the threat posed by Reliance Jio, and other incumbents.
Anurag Mittal
PGP 2nd Year
IIM Shillong
